Ancient China

degree of isolation distance from Middle East youngest Primary Phase culture in the

Old World

Prehistoric Society: Yangshao

5000-3000 BCE Ban Po Village Painted pottery Bronze tools

Unique features

intensive garden-style agriculture do not adopt the plow until very late unique soil: loess

Neolithic village at Ban Po

Early History

legendary outline three principal Neolithic Cultures later tradition: the Hsia dynasty

– no traces first historical civilization: the Shang

dynasty

Pre-dynastic cultures of China

Neolithic period

The Earliest Dynasties

Xia (Hsia)– C. 2200 BCE– Organized through

village network– Hereditary monarchy– Flood control

Shang– 1766-1122 BCE

Zhou– 1122-256 BCE

The Shang Dynasty

Yellow River

– near the frontier traditional date: 1500 B.C. invaders eventually absorbed

Shang Dynasty

Bronze metallurgy from 1200 BCE– State monopoly

Horse-drawn chariots, other wheeled vehicles Large armies Political organization: network of fortified cities, loyal

to center– 1000 cities– Capital moved six times

• Impressive architecture at Ao, Yin

Other regional kingdoms coexist: San Xingdui

Distinct Characteristics

silk no animal milk or milk products ancestor worship central place of the family

Operative unit of Society

the family not the individual not the state not the religion

Other features

ornate architecture chopsticks ideographic script

– still readable by modern Chinese divination

Oracle bone with early ideographic script

An example of Shang bronze (religious objects) cast using a “lost wax” process

More bronze ware, with early ideograms

A bronze temple bell

-many will strike two distinct and separate notes, depending on which part of the bell is struck

Organization

peasants support nobles, officials, bureaucracy, etc.

government centered in towns warrior elite poor live in primitive conditions

Distinctions

between rich and poor between male and female

– infanticide– footbinding– arranged marriages– multiple wives

Early ideology

Yin and Yang Yin: female, dark, weak, wet, passive Yang: male, bright, strong, dry, active balance of opposites

End of the Primary Phase

not as serious in China nomadic invaders the Zhou dynasty

– 1027 B.C. replaced one ruling class with another

– “meet the new boss...same as the old boss.”

Zhou dynasty 1100-256 B.C.

Zhou (Chou) Dynasty, 1122-256 BCE

No law codes: rule by decree– “Mandate of Heaven”

Aggregation of villages opposed to Shang leadership– Decentralization of authority

Development of cheap iron weaponry ends Shang monopoly on Bronze

Early money economy

Decline of the Zhou Dynasty

Decentralized leadership style allows for building of regional powers– Increasing local independence, refusal to

pay Zhou taxes Iron metallurgy allows for widespread creation

of weaponry Northern invaders weaken Zhou dynasty,

beginning 8th c BCE 771 B.C. Zhou driven east

– Internal dissention: the Period of the Warring States (403-221 BCE)

The Eastern Zhou

ruled until 256 B.C. power held by local aristocrats first Chinese literature evolution of bronze technology

Political theory

the mandate of Heaven universal monarch

– favors consolidation– xenophobic

Emperor is the Son of Heaven feudal monarchy

The Period of Warring States

771 B.C. dozen-plus states balance of power until 500’s period of consolidation by warfare

– warfare chronic

The Period of the Warring States, ca. 500 B.C.

Intellectual development

response to crisis and uncertainty Confucianism

– a sort of philosophy Taoism

– a sort of religion

The Good Old Days

breakdown of “traditional family values” no trust or confidence in government

– filled with thieves, liars, and murderers no respect for the ancestors “Why do the wicked flourish?”

Confucius (ca. 551-479 B.C.)(Kung Fu Tse)

poor family well-educated in the “classics” ambitious (wanted to be a bureaucrat...) couldn’t get honest work...so he

became a teacher

Kung Fu-Tse

Tomb of Master Kung

Confucius, con’t

wrote nothing--his followers wrote about him

difficult to separate myth from fact the Analects

– his “sayings”

The Analects

looked back to the “good old days” but favored some new ideas along with

the old rejection of the idea of in-born nobility proper training, education, and aptitude

make a “gentleman”– not simply birth into a certain family

Marks of gentility

goodness, wisdom, courage moderation of outer and inner emotions knowledge of traditional rites dissociation from all men who did not

practice these things– simple satisfaction in the practice of virtue

for its own sake

Circumstances favoring his ideas lack of mythopoetic urge lack of a strong religious tradition and

experience lack of prophets lack of anthropomorphic gods

Important Confucian concepts

Ren – innate goodness in human beings

Li – normal standard of conduct the TAO –what is appropriate no speculation on metaphysics

Confucian Ideas

Ethics and politics– Avoided religion, metaphysics– Role in government service

Confucius, con’t

a failure? ideas spread by students adopted by the Han dynasty

Taoism

supplied the metaphysical multiple lines of thought very fluid

Taoism

Critics of Confucianism/Taoism– Passivism, rejection of active attempts to

change the course of events Founder: Laozi, 6th c. BCE The Tao te Ching (Classic of Way and

of Virtue) Zhuangzi (named for author, 369-236

BCE)

Basic concepts

pursuit of justice and righteousness Wu wei wu: “

– Doing by not doing.” withdrawal and contemplation withdrawal from society

The Zhou (Chou) and Qin

rise of the Qin new technology gave land to peasants new military draft new bureaucracy

The Qin and the Legalist tradition ideology of rule absolute power of the ruler people existed to serve the state destroy Confucian philosophy?

The First Emperor

Qin Shihuangdi (r. 221-210 BCE) founds new dynasty as “First Emperor”

Dynasty ends in 207, but sets dramatic precedent

Basis of rule: centralized bureacracy Massive public works begun

– Incl. precursor to Great Wall

Shi Huangdi

united China in 221 B.C. ruled by the Legalist theory massive conscription for labor

China under the Qin dynasty, 221-207 B.C.E.

Resistance to Qin Policies

Emperor orders execution of all critics Orders burning of all ideological works Some 460 scholars buried alive Others exiled Massive cultural losses

Tomb of Shi Huangdi

Rise of the Han

rebellion of peasants Lui Bang a successful failure

Han dynasty

ruled for 400 years new bureaucracy emphasis on centralization

– weakening of the aristocracy imperial expansion destruction of the Legalists

The Han Dynasty

Han society

the Confucian educated elite free peasants non-free peasants improvement in women's’ status beginnings of “secret societies”

Population Growth in the Han Dynasty

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

220 BCE 9 CE

Population (millions)

General prosperity Increased

agricultural productivity

Taxes small part of overall income

Produce occasionally spoiling in state granaries